It would appear that I'm facing a firmware issue. If I boot with systemd, I get a blank screen and nothing works. If I boot openrc, it's fine. If I then reboot the machine with systemd, it's fine. So, systemd is not loading my radeon firmware, but if it's already been loaded, then it continues to work.

So, since X starts before radeon has finished loading the firmware, is that a bug that hasn't been hit before? Is there an event X should be waiting for before connecting to the DRM device? Is there an event systemd can wait for before starting X?

The Radeon firmware to be loaded can be in the kernel and/or in the initramfs and/or in the root partition.

From the moment who Linux detect the Ati card work with Radeon DRM, it should load the firmware and the Radeon support and, if KMS is activated by default in the kernel and/or the radeon.modeset=1 parameter is pass to the kernel, Linux should set the native resolution for the screen.

If the firmware is in the root partition only, you have to wait for the moment the Radeon support can find the firmware in the boot process. It is important to have the line

Code:

options radeon modeset=1

in the /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf file and include it in the initramfs if you have one, needed when the Radeon support is in module.

There should be no doubt that KMS is activated by default no matter if the Radeon support is compiled in the kernel or in module. In plus the radeon module should be autoloaded from /etc/conf.d/modules.

Mabye your missing some directives about the Radeon support and/or KMS in the boot process. When KMS is desactivated, the Radeon Xorg module may be not usable. As a result, you can have a black screen. The kernel side of the Radeon support do not depend on Xorg to drive the Ati card and have to be registrated, up and running first.

Because Openrc succeed and Systemd fail, it look like your firmware is only in the root partition, otherwise, Linux should load it before Init start. Anyway, you have to be sure Systemd do the job for the Radeon support as Opennrc do.

I am studying Systemd presently. I wait again before try it. I think you have to rebuild the initramfs for Systemd if not done._________________Paul

I don't have an initramfs; I'll see if I can figure out how to compile the firmware into the kernel binary. Really, the issue seems to just be that Systemd is too fast, especially since adding "console=ttyUSB0,115200n8" to the kernel command line causes it to work, as long as I have a USB serial port plugged in.